


After Hours

by define_lying



Category: Young Avengers
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-08
Updated: 2014-10-08
Packaged: 2018-02-20 09:04:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2423033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/define_lying/pseuds/define_lying
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kate just wanted a quiet night in. Tommy ruined those plans.</p>
            </blockquote>





	After Hours

 

It was 10:30 and Kate was ready to smash her face into a pillow and never emerge. She’d just gotten off an eight-hour shift at work. While she could easily take down a group of thugs in less hour, backflipping and firing off arrows without breaking a sweat, serving coffee to pissy customers for hours on end still left her wanting to melt into a puddle of purple goo.

Changing into her sweatpants, Kate wandered into her living room. She’d been neglecting her TV for a while and they were in need of some desperate bonding time. The place was quiet and she had plenty of time to revel in being alone at last.

Swinging herself over the back of her couch, she was not expecting the strangled squawk that erupted as soon as her weight crashed down onto what was supposed to be cushions. What was now extremely boney and distinctly human.

“What the-!“ Kate sprung up into fight mode within seconds. With one hand curled into a fist, she reached towards the coffee table for the first object she could get her hands on. If her months with Clint had taught her anything, it was that anything could be a weapon when you were desperate.

The invader had curled into a tight ball, pressing a hand against his ribs and attempting to bury his face deeper into the pillow by his head. Rather than protecting himself, he seemed more concerned with making himself as small as possible. Kate was seconds away from smashing the remote into the stranger’s brain when she noticed the white hair sticking up between the cushions.

“Damn it, Tommy.” Kate relaxed, dropping the remote back to her side. The lump of teenage boy only groaned more loudly. “What the hell are you doing on my couch, you idiot?”

“Can’t you tell when a guy is trying to sleep?” Tommy finally rolled over. “It’s not like I stole your bed. But if that’s where you’d prefer me—“

“Shut up and move over.” She shoved his feet out of the way and took her place on the unoccupied half of the couch. “What are you even doing here?”

“Isn’t it enough to just visit my favorite babe?” He was all cocky smiles and eyebrows, but she wasn’t letting him get off that easy. Ever since he turned to face her, she could tell that something was off. He was stiff, in a way Tommy never was.

She turned away, flicking the TV on. As she searched for a channel, Kate could see Tommy’s fall out of the corner of her eye. She wasn’t playing his games tonight. She was way too tired for this. All she had wanted was a quiet night with some mindless television, not the struggle of fixing her teammates emotional problems. But that’s right, Tommy didn’t have emotions.

It’s not that Kate didn’t like talking to them. Fixing people was her thing. If you were broken, in whatever way that meant, you’d probably be getting a visit from Kate Bishop, Professional Life Manager sometime soon. That didn’t mean she wanted to be on call 24/7.

“Why are you really here, Tommy?” She wouldn’t look at him. Give him space; that’s how it worked with Tommy. The moment he felt trapped, he’d run.

She could feel him shrug next to her, which she took to mean, _Nowhere else to go._ He must be tired too. He didn’t usually give in this easily.

“You wanna make some popcorn?” Kate asked. Time to give him an out before they got too mushy. She finally turned back towards him, finding him slumped so far down it looked like he was part of the couch cushions.

He made a face. “It takes way to long to cook. I could get you a pizza faster than it takes to make that shit.”

“Oh, shut up and make me my damn popcorn,“ she countered.

“Is that how it is, princess? I thought you were supposed to treat your guests better than this.” Tommy was already getting up from his position, defeating whatever stupid argument he had formed.

“You’re not a guest. You’re an intruder.” She eyed him as he stood, slower than usual. The living room was cramped, and he brushed against her on his way to the kitchen, smelling like dirt and salt and—

“Are you _wet?_ ” Kate whipped around to stare at Tommy in the small kitchen.

“Woah, Katie! Getting a little friendly for me being just an intruder.” The smirk was back on his face, but it was guarded. There was a tightness about his eyes that said he wasn’t going to give her the full story unless she pushed. _Damn it Tommy…_

She rolled her eyes. “Stop being an idiot. Why do you smell like saltwater?” Upon closer inspection she noticed his clothes were all hopelessly rumpled, coated in a light sheen of dirt and nature. It was a good chance that there was a partial pine needle sticking out the side of his hair. On his face, there were definitely dirt stains that looked way too close to skid marks for her comfort. Like before, he was standing stiffly, but now, in light of the kitchen she noticed he was favoring his right side, his left arm only being moved with ginger care. “And why do you look like you got into a fight with a forest, Tommy?”

“Well, your description wouldn’t be entirely wrong.” He shrugged, deflecting. “I just tripped on my way here, no biggie.”

At this point, Kate was out of her seat, crossing to where Tommy was standing. Before he had time to react, she grabbed his shirt by the hem, lifting it until it reached his chest.

Just like she thought, there were purpling bruises that littered his left side. The fact that she knew they’d be there didn’t make them any prettier to look at. She forced him to meet her eyes. “ _This_ is no biggie?”

“Hey, if you wanted my shirt off so badly, you could’ve just said something.”

“Stop it, Tommy!” She slapped him against the chest, and, yeah, that maybe wasn’t the nicest thing to do to a guy covered in bruises, but this was Tommy. She knew he wouldn’t hold a grudge. “I’m serious. You can’t just show up at my place in the middle of the night, looking like this, and expect me to just be okay with it! That’s not how this works.”

“It really is okay.” He met her eyes, placing his right on top of hers. “I started healing hours ago. I can barely feel a thing anymore.” _A lie._ “I wouldn’t lie to you.” _Ha!_ “I really did trip, and there’s really nothing to worry about.”

Kate stared back into his stony eyes. He seemed so genuine; he honestly didn’t want her worrying about him. _Well, fuck that idea._ But he also wasn’t going to budge anytime soon. It wasn’t in his nature. If she was honest, it wasn’t in hers either.

And she was so _fucking tired._

Kate grabbed hold of Tommy’s shirt, once again. This time, she turned to leave the kitchen, stopping briefly in front of the freezer to grab her ice pack. She dragged him behind her on her way to the bedroom. This battle wasn’t going to be won tonight.

“C’mon. We’re going to bed.”

Sometimes it was better to know when to put down the weapons.

**Author's Note:**

> This is short and rather shitty, but it's going up before I have a chance to change my mind. Also, [shepherdthomas](http://shepherdthomas.tumblr.com) wanted TommyKate, so I thought I'd attempt to deliver.


End file.
